It's not huge, but I was asked if I could create some beanbag covers for my mom's facility. The residents enjoy cornhole, but the bags tend to get dirty and the Activities Director thought it would be easier if she could remove a cloth cover and wash it, rather than go through the rigmarole of trying to clean the bags' surfaces without getting them wet.
Of course I could do that!
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| Thank you Celia for the Red Sox fabric! |
We discussed closures, and it was her suggestion that a simple double layer of fabric be used.
I made the prototype, calculated the fabric used and timed how long it took from start to finish (including cutting the fabric). At $12.95/yd (current online prices) and $15/hour (current minimum wage), I estimated it would cost $2 per cover to make 16 of them (the amount she ultimately wanted).
She was happy to pay that, and I made these for her.
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| Thank you Sarah for the chili fabric! |
It turned out that it took me longer than the hour I guestimated it would take to make these (not much time was saved with 'bulk sewing'), but then again I wasn't using $12.95/yd fabric, so it all evened out in the end. She's happy, and the chorus gets a donation of $32.
She had also mentioned her favorite raincoat had a rip in it and could I fix it (for pay, of course)? I knocked that out in little over 30 minutes of hand sewing ($8) and she's going to drop my name all over the place as the person to ask when any sewing project comes up. I'm looking at all this as a fundraising activity for Austin Harmony Chorus.
Some quilters turn up their noses at mending clothing ("Would you ask Michelangelo to paint your bathroom?") but I figure I possess a dying skill and am happy to provide it to those who value it.
I refuse to do alterations for people who have a sewing machine and the skills to do the job but who can't be bothered. No, me neither.
ReplyDeleteMending: now trending https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2023/0303/Make-do-and-mend-As-landfills-grow-people-opt-for-needle-and-thread
ReplyDeleteInteresting article (and I've never thought to make a repair dramatically obvious, as one of those pictures suggests). Just the other day my son asked me was "darning" was. In the past, I've reknit areas in jacket cuffs, basically using large straight pins as the knitting needles (it was for my dad, so a labor of love). I'm a very good knitter, so I knew how all the threads interacted. It's a true joy to mend something imperceptively.
DeleteThose bean bags get very grody (good word!) -- good idea to have removeable covers. And a good way to use up miscellaneous prints.
ReplyDeleteLOVE projects that use those . . . difficult . . . fabrics. Other than the green (which I used because it was a different, non-girly color), those fabrics have been squatting in my novelty drawer, waiting for their turn to play.
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